I agree that something needs to be done for agunot, of course.
Demonizing men, and making blanket generalizations about any group, even
if that group is "men", is not helpful or effective in your
cause. One really can't just pick out some truly worthy cases then apply
these cases to all divorces. Divorce is messy, and divorce like many
things in life doesn't fall into neat boxes. Divorce really can be
caused by the woman just as often as by the man. Most often though it is
neither person's fault, and is more of a shared responsibility, at least
according to many professional marriage counsellors. Women also cheat on
their spouses, and they women can be verbally abusive. And, not all
women want a get after a civil divorce. This is common in cases of a
non-observant couple where the man becomes a baal teshuva and his wife
doesn't. This was true of my ex-wife, she considered the concept of a
Get to be sexist and refused to participate in it. This then caused
difficulties in my own remarriage when the rabbi insisted I give her a
Get against her will. My case is not so unusual. This brings me to my
last point: most American Jews, about 90%, are not Orthodox. Among the
non-Orthodox the majority are not even aware of the term
"agunot", even though the divorce rate in the US has been over
50% for generations. Those who are aware of it often consider all of
Orthodox Judaism to be sexist and dismiss the issue. In practice,
regardless of what their movement's official position may be, it is very
easy to find Reform and Conservative rabbis who will find a way around
getting a get as long as a civil divorce exists. The reason most
non-Orthodox Jews are unaware of the issue is because most received
little or no Jewish education as children (including myself). Really, 5
years of "Hebrew School" which meets 2 hours a day 3 days a
week, and teaches only secular Jewish history and the Hebrew alphabet,
and we expect Jews to be aware of halachic issues such as agunot ? Thats
the real crisis in the Jewish world, giving a real (and affordable)
Jewish education to all Jewish children. You are right about the
genuine victims of this issue, but you are generalizing and missing the
true root cause.

Stop funding Israel unless and until they remove the ultraorthodox from
control of who is a Jew. Israel is the only country in the world where
a Jew can be told he is not a Jew based on his beliefs. Ironic isn't it.

But the numbers (the recent survey in NYC for example) show that the
Jewish population is becoming increasingly Haredi, due to the birthrate
and the number of baalei teshuva being so high it even overcomes the 60%
intermarriage rate among the ultra-Refom.

For me, the most important value of a "Jewish state" is that
every Jew should be entitled to decide for themselves how they want to
express their Judaism. It is inconceivable that in a JEWISH STATE, Jews
will have less religious freedom than in every single other western country.

This is nothing new. Judaism is a sexist religion. It just is. If you
want to be part of it, you have to put up with that. Change the law, or
write pre-nups, but don't threaten men for exercising their rights.

I don't believe its sexist, but, honestly I do know many non observant
Jewish women who say it is. OK, if they are right, how do you change
Judaism without the Jewish Peopel dissappearing ? Reform and
Conservative Judaism have tried to do this. But look at the latest
population surveys, and you see those movements dissapearing. The survey
in the NYC area last year showed that Reform and Conservative lost
40,000 members *EACH* over the past 10 years, and the Haredi birth rate
was so high that even with losses in the non-Orthodox Jewish population
the overall jewish population in the NYC area rose 10% So, assuming
that what you say is correct, what is the solution ?

In Israel, there's a serious problem. It's not just a decision to be a
part of it. A woman here is trapped if her husband refuses her a get.
She legally remains married to him, and there's no way for Jews in
Israel to have a secular wedding. In the US, however, this problem is
non existent. So, if they still choose to be a part of an ancient
religious belief - have at it, but don't complain. I have absolutely
no sympathy for these women. You can't force a man to give you a get, if
it doesn't have any legal consequences.